LearningArithmeticinthe21stCenturyTeamCacti

LearningArithmeticinthe21stCenturyTeamCacti

To-Do

Develop principled arguments (backed up by: research, empirical findings, your personal experience, hypotheses about resulting cognitive developments, and the topics discussed in class) which of the four positions YOU will favor!

Principled argument which of the four positions YOU will favor!

RECOMMENDATION: after students have mastered arithmetic skills, allow the use of hand-held calculators.

The choices around calculator use in the classroom are complicated, and must be addressed carefully. We recommend use of calculators, but only after students have working knowledge of the topics they are working on. In brief, introducing calculators too early (especially in lower level math) will likely cause dependency on the device as a way to bypass the harder task of learning the principles of arithmetic, but one must also take into account the power of a calculator as a tool.

PROBLEM: using calculator too early. If calculators are introduced to a classroom too early we risk making students dependent on the tool as a replacement for basic understanding of the principles involved. This is especially dangerous in early education, since development of the fundamentals is so important. If students lack this base understanding, math will continue to confuse them as they continue through school. This problem is already showing in school, as teachers encounter more and more students unable to do simple multiplication or even addition (1). By making a calculator available early, students are likely to simply use it (since it is easier) rather than learning the concepts.

PROBLEM: ignoring the calculator. Calculators are undoubtably powerful tools. For number crunching, they are far faster than people and can easily accept large amounts of input. If we choose to never introduce calculators in school students will lack knowledge in an incredibly useful tool. If one needs to do computations on a large dataset it would be unreasonable for them to do these by hand when using a calculator or other calculation tool (computerized spreadsheet, etc) would reduce the time and possibility for error. Calculators are also very common out side of school, so knowledge of their workings is an important life skill. Consider a high school student getting a summer job working at a department store. When ringing items up, they will likely use a point of sale system integrated with a calculator. This system would be very alien if the student had never been introduced to a calculator by this point.

The ideal solution to these problems is to ensure that students comprehend the core ideas and concepts of arithmetic before introducing the calculator as a tool. Once students have shown that they are able to do math appropriate to the course level they could be trained in basic use of a calculator to increase their efficiency and speed at assignments. This could even be done gradually throughout a semester, by first introducing a concept (such as addition), the testing students on their ability to understand it, then handing out calculators and allowing them to do a set of problems with it. At the start of the next section (such as multiplication) the calculators would be retrieved by the teacher before starting the cycle again. By keeping the learning cyclical students will both be forced to understand the concepts and shown how useful the calculator is.

1. Is Your Child Calculator Dependent? (2001) http://www.epinions.com/content_1350410372